Fiber-reinforced concrete incorporating recycled concrete fines.

Abstract

Recycling of construction and demolition(C&D) has been one of the paramount topics in the field of exploring new construction material. Applications of recycling these old concrete, mainly the recycled coarse aggregates (RCA), have replaced the aggregates in the production of the concrete and witnessed in numerous structural and non-structural projects such as Samwoh Eco-green building in Singapore1 and Michigan State University2.

Recycled concrete fines (RCF) are the fine particles and aggregates also derived from the construction and demolition waste of old concrete. Unfortunately, the potential of RCF has not been totally unleashed due to the high surface area and attached old mortar on the surface of RCF as compared to RCA.

Hence, in this project, the author will explore the potential of RCF by replacing sand with RCF and determine the interfacial properties and the matrix toughness of Engineered Cementitious Composities (ECC) incorporating RCF of different contents and particle sizes. ECC is a class of ultra ductile fiber reinforced cementitious composites. Through the results, the micromechanics model can be tailored for this new composition of material.